Academic All-American Rex Burkhead is on the official 2013 roster for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Photo Courtesy Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations

Courtesy: NU Media Relations

09/06/2013

Randy York's N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

We all remember last February’s Super Bowl power outage in New Orleans when play was stopped for 34 minutes and backup lighting was necessary. Baltimore survived San Francisco, 34-31, and part of that survival was the Ravens askingSam Koch(pronounced Cook) to play it smart and take a safety instead of punting the ball late in the fourth quarter. A former Nebraska punter from Seward, Neb., Koch was the last Husker to play last season, and he will be the first Husker to play this season when the Ravens visit Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High for Thursday night’s ballyhooed NFL season opener.

Beginning his eighth season in front of another monster television audience, Koch will carry the banner for Nebraska’s long-standing tradition of placing large numbers of players in the NFL. On Tuesday, Nebraska had 23 players on active NFL rosters, plus two additional players on practice squads. The 25 players represent 17 teams, helping Nebraska continue one of the most impressive histories of any school in producing NFL-caliber players. Since 1997, the Huskers have had 78 players selected in the NFL Draft, including 50 defensive players. Nebraska also has had at least two players selected in the draft in each of the past 44 seasons.

Somehow, it’s fitting that Koch gets to compete in back-to-back world spotlight games. He was, after all, born to kick on the biggest stage, according to his dad, Dave Koch, who lives in Seward. The national attention for Thursday night’s NFL opener has focused mainly on the huge banner of Baltimore quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. To the chagrin of Bronco fans and at the NFL’s insistence, Flacco’s banner hangs outside Denver’s stadium, along with Peyton Manning’s banner. It’s the league’s way to promote the defending Super Bowl champion team, which usually hosts the next season’s opener. The Ravens, however, were forced to open on the road because the Baltimore Orioles refused to reschedule their 138th game of the season to enable that to happen.